Common New Orleans Injuries

On the flight back from Pittsburgh last weekend I sat next to a gentleman who owned a very profitable trucking business in Louisiana and surrounding states. He had so much money, in fact, that he got to sit back in Coach on an AirTran flight wedged next to me and the bathroom.

He told me about how he was in the hospital for a few weeks because he got hit in the head with a sack of Mardi Gras beads. (!) He said it in such a matter of fact way, too. Like normal people might trip on a step or slip on ice. Nope, not here. A concern for the elderly is the trajectory of large bags of plastic items thrown drunkenly through the air. He's fine now, though.

He then went on to talk about how his company has bought up entire streets in the Ninth Ward and New Orleans East, areas that were badly hit during the 2005 hurricanes. "We just go in there and clean up the titles and the squatters and then take over." I could have asked more questions about the "clean up" process (yikes) but I was trying to change the subject since the woman who was sitting on the other side of me worked for a nonprofit who rebuilds storm-damaged homes in the area. And she probably despises people who do what he does.

So a bead attack is one type of common injury in New Orleans. Another is a dog scuffle.

A dog scuffle is when you are walking your dog(s) on the bumpy sidewalks of residential Uptown and you meet another walker and her dog(s). "Hey how are you?" "Great, how are you?" "Isn't this weather spectacular?" "It's only gonna get hotter" yada yada. And your dogs sniff each others' behinds.

Then when you try to walk away ("Take care! Enjoy the weather!"), the other owner's standard poodle lunges for your Buddy! and comes tearing down the sidewalk toward you. The other owner falls flat on her face in her tennis skirt (this is Uptown) and leashes and keys and water bottles go flying. Oh, and dogs. Dogs are all over the place.

On this particular day there were three: Bud-man, the giant poodle and a tiny fur ball that I think was a shih tzu. So tennis-skirt lady is on her stomach clutching a leash that is no longer attached to the poodle (Cujo) and Buddy! is under Cujo and the shih tzu is just sorta bouncing around. And cars are whizzing by.

I call it a scuffle but it's more like a circus.

But it was fine. I had to grab two of the dogs and accidentally hit one (Cujo) in the head with my keys a few times. But eventually we got it under control. Poor lady's tennis skirt was probably ripped and I'm sure she had a nasty strawberry on her legs somewhere.

New Orleans, home of interesting things to worry about. Or not.

No we're not flooded

It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing since we got to New Orleans: first the BP oil spill and now the Mississippi River threatening to put the city under 25 feet of water. It didn't happen. They opened a spillway. But it's pretty incredible to go to the Fly (part of the park right next to the river) and actually be level with the water.

I'm not describing it correctly. It's like if you make a cake but your pan is too small so when you pour in the batter, the liquid comes right to the brim and sort of sloshes over a little bit. No? How about if you're in front of a keg and you fill your red cup, but you don't move fast enough and then you have to take a few sips off the top before you can walk back to the corn hole game?

The river is up! That's what I'm trying to say! But so far so good down here.

I promised some pictures. Here's the latest recruits for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Red shirted

We were in the Mountain State this past weekend for a very important celebration. And since I always sound sarcastic, I'm just not going to write anything else about it. Here's a pic.

We should all learn to enjoy life a little more and quit whining so much

Buddy! with full fur boots

Bud-man does not like his new haircut. 

Where have you been? It's been so long!

Two months and 8 days, but I'm not that great at counting so who knows?

Tomorrow I'll have some totally awesome pictures for you, including: The Harlem Globetrotters, Dorothy (s) and Toto, some weddings and a sliver of my new office desk. Woo-hoo.

Here is why I have not been writing. I used to roll my eyes when people told me how busy they were. They were too busy to check email or too busy to workout. But then I'd see them drunk on a Saturday afternoon at like 3 p.m. Maybe you could have fit in a little run around the block this afternoon, no? The excuse I hated the most was "I was studying for the Bar exam." So then you cut yourself off from the rest of the world and could not return a phone call or attend one meeting once in two weeks?

I'm a little rusty on the blog-writing thing. Stay with me. But now I understand. I am wrapping up the nine most busy weeks of my life and I finally understand what it feels like to have no time to check your email or facebook or twitter or write in your little Nola blog. We've traveled almost every weekend since March. I started working full time (Yay!) but have not made time to go out to celebrate (Boo!).  I took too many classes this term. I also am now chair of a fundraiser (I'm such a yuppie).

But these classes are almost over and we only have one more trip to take. And I'm happy to be alive and all that in the BEST city in the nation. So look out, I'm gonna be spamming up your facebook feed again! Samlivesinnola is back. Which reminds me, did you hear that Ah-nald and Maria Shriver are splitting up? I bet he starts dating Kim Kardashian next.